Folks,
As I have said elsewhere, I am a novice-master, 74 years old, with an arthritic right knee. I have been released by my doctor to squat and deadlift again and am now two weeks into the program. I now own all three of the main SS books and have just done most of the homework I should have completed before starting. I have made several new discoveries but have some confusion for which I would appreciate advice--particularly from Rip or Andy, if listening:
First, I now get it that at my age, I should not power clean. Loud and clear. With my knee, I didn't want to anyway! And I have seen Rip say that there is no real substitute for the PC. Understood, due to the explosive nature of that exercise. But Rip also says, echoed by Andy in "The Barbell Prescription", that after 3 or 4 weeks of the novice program, doing the deadlift at every session introduces far too much exhaustion for recovery. Having done that for over a week, I completely understand. My quandary is--what movement to perform on alternate "lighter" workouts--in place of the deadlift. My thoughts are:
Barbell row?
High Pulls (without any jump)?
Something else?
Second, (for later on in my programming--not now) Andy and Jonathon Sullivan in "The Barbell Prescription" list the Concept II rower as secondary in importance for HIIT conditioning only to the prowler and pushing or pulling other sled-type devices. But in one thread or another it seems to me that Rip does not think particularly highly of rowing. I get that. But my problem that I am not able, at my house or in my neighborhood, to push or pull a sled. I do however own a Concept II. Thoughts would be appreciated for when that time comes.
Also, I have not yet read PPFST, although I own it, so I may find the answer there, but I have not found any advice so far as to when to add HIIT to a novice program for someone my age (again, 74).
Finally, I know that Rip advises strongly not to allow conditioning to interfere with adding strength--and that fits well with my goal of surviving a couple of years!--but I am 5-10 and 220 pounds and too much of that weight is fat. I think my ideal weight would be 190--and I completely buy into the idea that old people need some fat. I just think I have too much. So I have been combining weight training with 5-8 miles of non-aerobic (easy) walking and 2-3 days in which I elevate my heart rate on the rower to within target limits for 30 minutes or so. And I have been losing weight. Rip tells us that some of that will be muscle loss--and I agree and understand. Any advice as to programming at my early stage? Andy says no conditioning at all in the early stages of rank novice. And I am an old fart to boot!
Thanks and sorry for the long diatribe,
Russ